Alice Frieda Smithee

Our very special 91 year old “mom,” “G-ma,” and “GG,” Alice F. Smithee received her heavenly promotion on November 13, 2021 at 9:00 pm after a lengthy and most valiant battle with aortic valve stenosis and Alzheimer's.

She was born to Martin F. Bockelman and Ida (Rindt) Bockelman on January 16, 1930. Alice was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri and married Thurman L. Smithee in June of 1949.

Moms dad, Martin, was a self-taught master of his trade. He drew his own blue prints, owned a lumber mill in Arkansas with his two brothers, designed and built several of the most impressive homes in Kansas City just south of the Country Club Plaza on Ward Parkway. He also designed a motel and one of KC’s first restaurants with a rooftop party patio! Mom absolutely loved telling us stories of going to the job sites with her daddy and helping him work. Her most frequently told memories was drinking coffee with him he “brought to work in a bucket that looked like a paint can with a handle.”

When the polio outbreak got too close for comfort in the 1940’s, Martin, Ida, and the girls moved to the little cabin in the woods by the lumber mill where the three sisters, Florence, Verna, and mom attended a one-room schoolhouse. While grandpa cut trees and made lumber for their business, grandma made the cabin their Home Sweet Home away from home until it was safe for them to return to 61st and Tracy in Kansas City.

Mom played tennis at Paseo High school and later discovered she loved golf and swimming, too. Bowling was added to her list of favorite hobbies in a round about way after she and daddy became active members of New Haven Baptist Church. (Mom sang in the choir, taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, worked in the nursery and made sure we girls attended church regularly and led both of us to accept Christ as little girls. That commitment of hers long ago, is now our comfort through this time, because we KNOW we will one day see her again!) A Friday night church bowling league caught her interest and became her favorite of all activities. She got pretty good, carrying an average well over 200 during her prime. She also shared her expertise every Saturday morning, for over a decade, as a bowling instructor for Strike N Spare’s youth leagues.

After high school, mom landed a job downtown at Luziers Cosmetics, later worked at Sears for a few years before her next unique employment at the Lake City Ammunition plant. She got to work with her two best friends packing mortars for shipment to the soldiers who, at that time, like daddy, were fighting in the Korean war. She told us how “some of the girls” added their photos and contact information to the packing. She, of course, assured us SHE was only privy to that information - “NEVER a participant.”

She met daddy at a weekly square dancing party at the Swope Park Pavillion. Although we don’t know, we’ve heard they were some kind of exceptional dancers, and it is fun for us to imagine that time they had together. We DO know they were married when mom was 19 and we REALLY know they were mighty exceptional parents, grandparents to Micah, Jessica and Joey, and mom got to prove she was one ultra exceptional “GG” (Great Grandma) to our beautiful and bright Asher.

Mom loved to paint - mostly landscapes and mountain scenes. We think, like her, her artwork was pretty amazing, especially without having had any formal training.

Her natural talent and love of art ushered her into several at-home work opportunities.

In addition to being a homemaker, canner, and great cook, she was an accomplished seamstress - making most all our school, church, and “play clothes.” Mom made sure both of us had a new outfit for every holiday and special occasion. She also designed and made brides maids dresses for many weddings and even several wedding gowns - one with ivory pearls, all sewn on by hand!

Mom had what resembled a drafting table in our basement for another at-home job. The tabletop was lighted from beneath the opaque glass. With that desk, special ink, blades, and an astounding eye for balance, design, and detail, she sat for hours creating school yearbooks. By hand, she formatted photos, made picture collages, crosschecked students’ names for accuracy, cut each photo to size, placed all photos in line, and filled in any flaws - which were quite prevalent in the days of black and white film. Your yearbook probably was in our basement at some time.

She bedazzled Fez, too.

Wait! What? Her job was to meticulously glue rhinestone designs to the burgundy hats that Shriners wear. It was intricate work and eventually she was deemed worthy of decorating the Fez of the Potentate! That was the most rhinestone-ridden Fez we’d ever seen. Her Fez phase didn’t last but a year or so, but we remember how pleased, and relieved she was when she completed each one.

She eventually started using her creative talents more for fun than funds, taking ceramic classes that helped decorate our yard - sometimes to our delight with sweet little white bunnies that had the most enviable lashes; sometimes to our dismay with Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy and Grumpy. That craft culminated in an absolutely gorgeous 17-piece off-white nativity, gilded in gold, that has had and will continue to have a special place, front and center, ‘neath every Smithee Christmas tree and in every one of our hearts.

As her natural talent began to drift from her, she found that she loved using colored pencils and adult coloring books to pass the time. Coloring entertained her for hours each day clear up to three or four weeks ago.

Above all else, mom was the “hostess with the mostest” and a “planner deserving of a banner.” Family and friends always had something to look forward to, because mom always planned special events for no special reason other than to bring all of us together. We all treasure memories of moms Taco Dinners, Spaghetti Nights, swimming parties, hamburger cookouts, volleyball games, holiday feasts, and costume parties in the garage - complete with live entertainment, games, copious amounts of food, and prizes. What a great way to build and keep family and friend relationships strong and growing.

Mom quietly and regularly financially supported several dear-to-her-heart organizations. If you would like to add to or continue support in memory of her, the following organizations she regularly donated to were:

BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELICAL

ASSOCIATION

DR. CHARLES STANLEY

IN TOUCH

KC CITY UNION MISSION

SAMARITAN'S PURSE